There are just four actual steps to the top of the Beast of the East championship podium, where weight-class place-finishers gather to be feted.
But getting there takes years of work, ounces of sweat and immeasurable determination.
And on Sunday, it took Max Agresti six minutes of regulation, two minutes of overtime and another 10 or so seconds of a decisive sudden-victory period to go where no Delaware wrestler had been in 10 years.
The Salesianum School senior won 3-2, escaping from the bottom referee’s position, to defeat Hudson Skove of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional in New Jersey in the 215-pound final at the Carpenter Center.
“It’s exciting,” Agresti said. “I love wrestling every time I get to step on the mat. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. There’s always something to learn.”
This was the 29th Beast of the East, regarded as the nation’s most competitive high school wrestling tournament. Delaware’s last champ was Smyrna junior 113-pounder Brent Fleetwood in 2012. Agresti had lost in the finals at 195 pounds last year, his only defeat in a high school match this year and last.
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“It means a lot for Max,” Sallies coach Cameron Davis said. “All the time he put in, the work ethic, his dedication. He’s been doing it all his life and this is what he loves to do.”
All the points were scored on escapes from that bottom position as the wrestlers spent most of the match on their feet, contemplating takedown tries and countering the other’s attempts. Each nearly had a takedown, only to be thwarted.
“He stayed in a really good position and was a really great competitor,” Agresti said. “I thought I could put up a couple takedowns. I had a couple things on the edge that didn’t go my way.”
Agresti, who’d also won a 3-2 semifinal match that was much less dramatic, will attend and wrestle for Harvard next year.
“It was just a lot of practice,” Agresti said. “I’ve got the best support team. I’ve got the best parents ever. I just love to compete. That’s pretty much it.”
Agresti had become more serious about wrestling and devoted additional time and energy to the sport after losing an overtime semifinal state tournament match his sophomore year and finishing third. He continued training and did well in subsequent scholastic and freestyle competition, setting the stage for a stellar junior year. He was state 195-pound champ last season.
“Sophomore year was a little humbling for him,” Davis said, “but he got a new perspective. He was deteremined to love this sport and to have fun doing it. That is the way to go. You can see that works. He likes to wrestle. He likes to compete.”
Agresti’s performance also allowed Salesianum to earn the Governor’s Cup as the top-scoring Delaware team.
There were 801 wrestlers from 137 high schools filling the 14 weight-class brackets when competition began Saturday morning. Delbarton School of New Jersey outpointed Bethlehem Catholic of Pennsylvania for the team title.
Agresti was one of four top-eight place-finishers from Delaware. Sanford senior Justin Griffith (190) and Sussex Central sophomore Malachi Stratton (106) were sixth and Caravel senior Luke Poore (126) was eighth.
Four Delaware wrestlers reached Sunday morning’s quarterfinals — Agresti, Griffith, Poore and his Caravel teammate Eddie Radecki (120) — but only Agresti prevailed.
Stratton hoped to use his strong performance in wrestlebacks, in which he won 5-2, 1-0, 3-1 and 5-2 matches, as inspiration for next year.
“I feel great about it,” Stratton said. “I actually think I could have wrestled a little better. Next year I can be up top.”
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